Open AccessSMALLPOX PLAGUE IN COLONIAL BRAZIL Historical tragedy or genocide?
Author(s) -
Ronaldo Vainfas
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
brathair
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1519-9053
DOI - 10.18817/brathair.v20i2.2550
Subject(s) - smallpox , plague (disease) , colonialism , context (archaeology) , pandemic , indigenous , population , ethnology , history , geography , influenza pandemic , smallpox vaccine , genocide , demography , virology , ancient history , vaccination , political science , vaccinia , law , medicine , covid-19 , biology , archaeology , sociology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , ecology , recombinant dna , pathology , biochemistry , disease , gene
This article studies the impact the16th century smallpox pandemic had on the indigenous population of the Brazilian coast. It offers a comparison between the spread of smallpox in colonial America and the European Black Plague in the Late Middle Ages. It discusses the smallpox pandemic in the context of Iberian colonization, especially the Portuguese one. It analyzes the hypothesis of the African origin of the strain of smallpox spread in Brazil. It also examines quantitative evidence on native mortality, relating it to the procedures adopted in the Jesuit villages. Finally, it evaluates the relevance of concepts such as Genocide or Necropolitics for the studies on the smallpox pandemic in the 16th century.